Jack Terry / The Industry

Jack Terry / The Industry

London-based Jack Terry works as a lifestyle photographer. In spare time between shoots he has created a body of personal work comprising portrait studies of the roles that support the advertising photography industry in London. His compelling idea, to present names and faces so often involved in and out of the studio, gives a fresh spin to contemporary portraiture. Below, Photomonitor asks Jack about the ideas behind this project, ‘The Industry’.

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Photomonitor:Could you tell me a little bit about the background to this series of portraits?

Jack Terry: I was thinking about doing a project called the creatives, based on artisans and small creative businesses. The more I looked into it, I found it had been quite heavily covered and done very well by other photographers. I decided to bring it a bit closer to home and realised just how many interesting people I already knew that are involved in the photography industry.

The portraits are all of people I have worked with directly or have been introduced to though somebody I have worked with. The images are ordered to highlight the production process, showing the crucial role of all involved throughout an advertising campaign. The thing I like a lot about the series is the recognition it gives to all the people who are usually on the other side of the camera.

PM:How did your subjects feel about being photographed?

JT: Everybody involved was really receptive and found it quite a nice novelty, one or two people I approached were not keen for various reasons (mainly due to availability), so in that case I just asked somebody else.

PM:You’ve got quite a few well known photography names in this series, and it’s great to see their portraits. Is it also geographically focused on London?

JT: All of the people are London based, mainly for convenience on my part, but also as it gives a really good cross section of an industry in a city as diverse as London.

PM:Does this personal project inform your professional practice? Is it something you may like to extend to a broader geographic remit?

JT: I use personal projects as a way to test ideas and techniques and develop skills that I can then use enhance my commercial work. I would love to continue shooting portraits of people for the industry as my career develops. Hopefully this will involve more travel and portraits would be a great way to document some of the different people I get to work with along the way.